Spring Ballet Showcase is a Springing Leap

Spring Ballet Showcase is a Springing Leap

This past Friday in Ryan dance studio, the Colgate Bal­let Company held their first ever Spring Showcase. The per­formances consisted of both classical and modern songs that featured great choreography.

The Ballet Company performed nine pieces, with four solos from sophomore Emma Satchell in “Don Quixote” that involved lots of hopping, which was quite impressive. Another piece starred senior Jane Scheinman in “Le Cor­saire” and later, senior Kate Drazen performed impressive spins throughout her solo in “Giselle.” First-year Chloe Holt also performed a solo of “Esmeralda,” involving a tambourine and lots of kicks.

In addition to her solo, Holt performed a duet to “Cop­pelia” with senior Brian Peddie. This duet was extremely impressive, as Peddie lifted Holt into the air upside down multiple times and he turned Holt around like a ballerina in a music box. Additionally, there were many times where Holt was leaning on Peddie, showing great strength and discipline in both of the dancers, as well as the amount of trust between the two.

Other members of the Ballet Company who also per­formed wonderfully are: seniors Kate Drazen, Symone Jackson, Kaitlyn Kelly and Lauren Shively; juniors Terica Adams, Lauren Frish, Caroline Knudsen and Bo Montan­ye; sophomores Jess Burnham and Michelle White; and first-year Sophie Dennis.

The company performed “Secrets” by One Republic, and did an amazing job with the performance. The lifts and jumps during the performance were awe-inspiring. The company also performed “Rhythm of Love” by Plain White T’s. The great choreography and movement of the group as a whole made both pieces even better and the whole company flowed well together.

The room in Ryan was packed and overflowing with people, stu­dents, professors and members of the surrounding community. The audience was so close to the ballerinas due to the intimate setting, yet at times it felt cramped with too many people.

Although the performances were brilliant, it would have been helpful if there were background on the different clas­sical pieces that were performed. Those who are not huge ballet fans would not know the stories behind the pieces, which ultimately kept people from understanding why some dancers appeared sad and others appeared serene. The lack of background knowledge made it hard to appreciate the pieces, which left many to admire the choreography and footwork of the dancers.

Needless to say, I feel more inept with my dancing skills after hav­ing watched them. They all were fantastic dancers and each one of them clearly worked hard. To balance on your toes is one thing, to dance around on them in shoes that appear to be extremely painful is a completely separate level of love for art. I am even more excited now for Dancefest to see them all perform again!